


Who Knew Alleyways Were So Popular?

by agentstefano



Category: Danny Phantom, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Assorted Fenton gadgets, Bonding, Canon-Typical Violence, Danny Phantom and Spider-Man would be bros, Everyone wants to take over New York, Gen, Hand-wavey early 2000s technology, Hurt Danny Fenton, Identity Reveal, Let Danny Fenton Say Fuck, Mentioned Gwen Stacy, Set sometime in season 3 of Danny Phantom, Trans Male Character, Trans Peter Parker, Tucker is a Spider-Man fanboy, a lot of snark, but not any more than in canon, pre-Danny Fenton/Sam Manson, so is Dash, trans danny fenton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 09:08:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19422883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentstefano/pseuds/agentstefano
Summary: Danny looked around for a place to change, but there were people everywhere. Finally he spotted an empty alley across the street. He sprinted for it.He dove into the alley, yelling, “I’M GOING GH─” and collided with someone else. They both crashed to the pavement, which Danny really didn’t want to touch.“Um… ” Danny said, staring at the person on the ground next to him. He was a teenager, about Danny’s age, with messy brown hair and a shocked expression on his face.“Um… “ he said again. “Wrong alley, sorry.” He fled before the other boy could respond.





	Who Knew Alleyways Were So Popular?

“I AM THE BOX GHOST! FEAR ME!” 

The Box Ghost hovered in front of Danny, surrounded by a maelstrom of cardboard boxes, tupperware containers, and storage bins. 

Danny sighed. “Come on, man. We do this every week. Can’t you give it a rest? I’ve got a math test tomorrow.”

“THE BOX GHOST DOES NOT REST. YOU WILL ALL BOW BEFORE MY CORRUGATED MINIONS.” 

“Jeez, you never think outside of the _ box _ , do you? Fine. We’ll do this the hard way.” Danny raised his fists, already glowing green with ecto-energy. 

The Box Ghost cackled and lifted his arms, the whirlwind around him accelerating. The hulking shapes at the back of the warehouse rose into the air and floated towards him.

“PREPARE TO BE CRUSHED BY MY NEWEST WEAPON: INDUSTRIAL SHIPPING CONTAINERS FULL OF─” He paused to watch as their heavy steel doors swung open. “─RUBBER DUCKS, FLIP FLOPS, AND ASSORTED LAWN ORNAMENTS!”

“Yeah, if your ego doesn’t crush me first!” Danny taunted, dodging a garden gnome and swooping around to shoot the Box Ghost with an energy ray. 

The Box Ghost cursed and sent a volley of rubber ducks after him. Individually, they were nothing to worry about, but together they made a vicious cloud that bit at his jumpsuit and pulled his hair. He couldn’t see the ghost through the blur of yellow plastic. 

Sam yelled from across the warehouse,“Danny, catch!” 

Danny burst through the wall of ducks and caught the Fenton thermos out of the air. Did he ever mention how glad he was to have backup? Dodging another gnome, he opened the thermos and pointed it at the Box Ghost. 

“YOU WILL NEVER DEFEAT THE BOX GHOOOooooooost… ” His voice trailed off as he was sucked into the thermos. Danny screwed the lid back on and shook his head.

“Maybe you can think of some better lines while you’re in there.” He flew back to where Sam and Tucker were waiting and tossed Sam the thermos.

Sam frowned at it. “How does that guy keep getting out of the ghost zone?”

“Seriously,” Tucker said, “it’s like he has his own personal ghost portal.”

Danny shrugged. “I’m just glad the other ghosts seem to be taking a break. I could use a good night’s sleep for once.”

“Mmmm yeah.” Tucker yawned. “Let’s call it a night.”

“Good job, guys.” Danny held out a half-hearted fist for his friends to bump. “Go team.”

“Fly us home?” Sam asked.

“Of course.” Danny held out his arms. “All aboard the  _ Phantom Express _ .”

Wrapping an arm around each of them, he lifted them into the air and through the roof of the warehouse. He tried to ignore how nice Sam smelled. Did goths wear perfume? Probably only if it was named something dark, like  _ Graveyard Gloom.  _

Tucker interrupted before he could follow that thought any further. “Wouldn’t you be an airlines, not an express?”

Danny shrugged as best he could while holding two people and flying. “Eh, semantics.”

When he finally got home, he changed back to his human form and collapsed on his bed with a groan. As incompetent as the Box Ghost was, fighting him still exhausted Danny. 

Before falling asleep, he had just enough energy left to strip out of his binder and toss it in the general direction of the laundry basket. Everything else could wait until morning. 

***

Danny turned around to look at his friends impatiently. 

“Come  _ on,  _ guys. I want to get a head start on ghost fighting today so we can chill out this weekend.”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re coming,” Tucker grumbled. “Maybe  _ you _ can try hauling 30lbs of technology around with you sometime.”

Sam snorted. “You know, Tucker, no one’s forcing you to do that.”

“Like you’re one to talk, Miss My-Boots-Are-Made-of-Solid-Steel.”

Sam started jogging and turned around so she was facing him. “But I’m not complaining, am I?” With a laugh, she jogged ahead to where Danny was waiting, leaving Tucker in the dust. 

When they got to Danny’s house, everyone was gathered around the television in the kitchen. 

“What’s going on?” Danny asked. 

“Someone’s attacking New York again,” Jazz answered. “Spider-Man’s fighting him.”

“Spider-Man?” Tucker pushed through to see the screen. “I love that guy!”

“We _know,_ ” Danny and Sam chorused. 

“Come on! He swings around New York fighting crime and rescuing  _ fine _ ladies. He’s basically living the dream.”

“Your dream, maybe,” said Sam. She looked at Danny thoughtfully. It really wasn’t all that different from what Danny did. (Though she refused to call any of the girls Danny rescued on a semi-regular basis “fine.”)

Jazz waved a hand to shush them. “Listen!” 

The screen switched from shaky street-level camera footage to swooping aerial shots while a newscaster narrated. 

“ _ We have live footage coming in from News Chopper 1 that confirms reports of the masked vigilante known as ‘Spider-Man’ fighting an unknown opponent in downtown Manhattan. As you can see, the opponent appears to be wearing green and riding some sort of hoverboard. Are they a supervillain, a rival vigilante, or something else entirely?” _

“GHOST!” Jack yelled, pointing at the screen. “Evil? Green? Flying? IT’S A GHOST! Maddie, get the Specter Speeder ready.” 

He puffed up his chest and looked into the distance. If the jumpsuit had a cape, it would have been billowing behind him dramatically. “We have to save New York!” 

Maddie shook her head. 

“Don’t be silly, Jack. Look, he crashed right into that wall.  _ And  _ he hasn’t used any ecto-based powers at all. It must be some sort of costume or mutation. And his hover technology is top of the line. I wonder what powers it. Fascinating…” She trailed off, watching the screen intently. 

“Not a ghost? Then I don’t care!” Jack rifled through the refrigerator for a moment, pulled out a tub of fudge, and said, “I’ll be preparing our defenses, in case a  _ real  _ ghost shows up.” 

The rest of them barely looked up from the news as he left. Panning footage showed overturned cars, bent lamp posts, and the occasional smoking crater in the road or the side of a building. 

_ “The fight has covered several city blocks and caused severe property damage in the area. As of now, no civilians have been harmed. However, this battle raises the question posed earlier this month by New York City Mayor Yvette Lawrence: Does the presence of a superpowered vigilante _ ─ _ what some fans are calling a  _ hero─ _ actually increase criminal activity? And if so, is Spider-Man’s presence a threat to this city?” _

Danny frowned. That was the same argument Vlad had used to justify all of his anti-ghost measures when he first became mayor of Amity Park. Beside him, Sam balled her fists. 

_ “We now have the city’s Public Works Director, Jim Horowitz (who recently unveiled a new department dedicated to damage control in situations like these), on the line. Jim, what do you think about concerns that Spider-Man poses a threat? Does his presence do more harm than good?” _

_ “Thank you, Donna. I have to say yes. I do believe Spider-Man could be harming this city in the long run. As you can see from the footage here, superpowered battles cause significant damage to both public and private property. And who pays for that damage? Tax payers like you and me. New Yorkers didn’t sign up to pay millions more in taxes because some vigilante threw a guy in a costume through a building.” _

_ “Thank you, Jim. As you can see, the fight has now moved further into downtown. It’s unclear who has the upper hand.” _

The newscaster paused, listening to her earpiece.  _ “I’m getting an update from the ground. The man in green appears to have taken a hostage. Witnesses say he grabbed a young woman off the sidewalk and has now carried her to the top of a construction crane. Spider-Man seems to be trying to intervene, but the wrong move could send the woman plunging to her death.” _

The camera followed Spider-Man as he swung towards the crane, shooting a web at the man in green. The villain dodged, tossing something at Spider-Man that exploded with a flash. Spider-Man shot another web, this one hitting the hoverboard. The board shuddered and then tilted downwards, spiralling towards the ground. 

“He must have knocked out whatever was powering it,” Maddie mused. “Now, if  _ I’d  _ designed it… “

As the man in green plunged to the ground, Spider-Man swung to the crane and freed the young woman. There was a boom and the camera jerked away from Spider-Man to focus on the ground. The street was obscured by a thick green cloud. By the time it cleared, the villain had disappeared. 

The newscaster started narrating again as the chopper circled the street from above.

_ “Spider-Man has now brought the hostage safely to the ground. When asked by reporters at the scene, he referred to the man as the Green Goblin, and warned that he would likely be back. The hostage, Gwen Stacy, daughter of NYPD Captain George Stacy, declined to comment. More on this as it develops.” _

“See!” Tucker pointed to the screen, now showing replays of the action. “Fighting crime and rescuing ladies! He’s got it down.”

“That goblin guy seemed pretty dangerous,” said Sam. 

“I bet he has ghost envy!” Jazz’s eyes shone with all the psychological papers she could write about this. “Think about it! What else would compel someone to dress in a spooky green outfit, ride a hoverboard, and call himself the ‘Green Goblin?’”

“Uh, boredom?” Jazz glared at Danny. 

“No. He clearly wants to be a ghost.” She left, already muttering about things to research.

“Seriously,” said Tucker, “ _ so cool. _ ” 

***

They weren’t the only ones who watched the news that night.

“Hmmm,” Vlad Plasmius mused, stroking his chin. “New York City… If my destiny is to rule the world, it would be the perfect place to make my move. Much better than Amity Park. What do you think?”

Beside him at the Ghost Zone’s annual picnic, Skulker smiled. “I would gladly take the spider’s pelt for my walls. It will look perfect next to the ghost child’s.”

Vlad cracked his knuckles. “This should be fun.”

***

“Spider-Man’s  _ clearly _ the coolest superhero,” said Dash as he walked past Danny’s locker, casually shoving Danny into it. “I bet he’d help me crush you, Fen-TURD!”

Danny rubbed his shoulder while Tucker and Sam glared at Dash.

“Spider-Man wouldn’t do that,” Tucker yelled. “He’d stick up for the little guy!” 

“I’m not  _ that  _ little,” Danny grumbled. 

“Spider-Man is  _ not  _ the coolest superhero,” Paulina argued as they walked away. “The Ghost Boy is  _ so _ much cooler. And cuter!” 

She giggled and Danny sighed after her. Why did she only think he was cute when he had white hair and a jumpsuit on? What if he bleached his hair? 

“Hey, Sam, would I be cuter if I bleached my hair?”

“What─why are you asking  _ me _ ?” She turned away from him, cheeks pink.

“I don’t know, you’re a girl.”

She glared and started walking towards their next class without him. He looked over at Tucker.

“What did I say?”

Tucker held up his hands. “I don’t know, man. I’m just the computer guy.”

***

Halfway through English, Danny’s ghost sense went off. 

He groaned. “Oh, what now?”

“Am I boring you, Mr. Fenton?” Mr. Lancer asked with narrowed eyes. 

“No, sir.”

“Hmmm.”

Through the window, Danny saw the ghost of a vulture fly by. 

“Actually, Mr. Lancer, may I go to the bathroom?”

“Very well, but don’t think that means you can slack off in the halls with your little friends. I expect you back here promptly.”

“Yes, Mr. Lancer.”

Danny bolted for the door, making Dash and his friends laugh. He glanced around the hallway and then transformed into his ghost self. 

He phased back through the classroom, taking a moment to knock Dash’s backpack off his desk, before flying after the vulture. 

He found all three of Vlad’s pet birds sitting on the goalpost at the far end of the football field, waiting. 

“What do you want?” He yelled, raising a glowing fist. 

“We have a message for you.”

“Well, you better make it quick.”  _ Because if you don’t _ , he thought,  _ I’ll get detention… again. _

The vulture in the middle fluttered its wings and opened its beak, speaking with Vlad’s voice. 

“Daniel, while I have enjoyed your childish pranks, it’s time I moved on to bigger things than Amity Park. Tell Maddie that if she wants to rule the world by my side, she should dump that blundering oaf and come to New York with me. Ta!”

The vultures flew away with matching smirks. 

“New York? That can’t be good.” Behind him, the bell rang. “But I’ve got bigger things to worry about!” 

He flew back to class, just in time for Mr. Lancer to give him detention. Again. 

***

Tucker looked up from his PDA. “Wait, back up. Vlad’s going to New York? Why?”

“Why do you think? He wants to rule the world.”

“Well, we have to stop him,” Sam said. 

“Hey, if we’re going to New York, we can meet Spider-Man! Danny, you can use your ghost powers to find him!” 

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea. He probably has a secret identity, too.”

“Duh. But you can find him when he’s out fighting crime.” Tucker mimed shooting webs from his wrists. 

“Oh!” Tucker added. “And we can visit Foley Square!”

Sam whacked him over the head with her book. 

Jazz opened Danny’s bedroom door with a bang. They turned to look at her. 

“Vlad’s on the news! And he’s─”

“─in New York, I know.”

“How did you─Nevermind. You’ve got to see this.”

She ran back downstairs, the three of them right behind her. 

New York was on fire. Green flames covered the buildings and spread across the water. Vlad Plasmius floated above the Empire State Building, several times his normal size. Pink and green ecto-energy flickered around him.

“GHOST!” Jack yelled. “I recognize that pointy-haired fiend!”

Maddie shushed him. 

The microphone on the news chopper picked up Vlad’s voice, which was projected loud enough to reach clear across the island. 

“Good afternoon, New York. My name is Vlad Plasmius. Your paltry city now belongs to me. I will make it my stronghold as I conquer the world.” His laugh, deep and maniacal, echoed between the skyscrapers, shaking support beams and cracking glass.

Police cars surrounded the base of the building, lights flashing. Vlad waved a hand and they exploded in balls of green flame. 

Then the camera zoomed in on the side of the building, where a red and blue dot was scaling the monument. 

“Spider-Man!” Tucker gasped. 

Spider-Man fired a web at Vlad, but it flew right through him. Vlad laughed again and shot him in the chest with a ghost ray. The vigilante tumbled backwards, barely catching hold of one of the ledges. He kicked his feet, trying to heave himself up onto the ledge. 

Suddenly, the ledge exploded. A missile hit the edge of the building, shattering windows and making the stone crack. 

Spider-Man fell. 

A gray blur swooped through the air and grabbed him. The camera tried to follow them, but they moved too quickly. Finally, it refocused on Vlad. 

“Oh, did I forget to mention? I’m not alone. This is my associate, Skulker.” 

He gestured to his right, where the hunter hovered, holding an unconscious Spider-Man aloft. 

Danny swore. Jazz was so focused on the screen that she didn’t even scold him for it. 

“Your precious hero is weak beyond measure. Bow down before me, or face my─” He cut off with a gurgle. His mouth was covered in webbing.

Spider-Man slipped out of Skulker’s hold, attached a web to his back, and swung him around into Vlad. Both of them went flying and crashed through a skyscraper across the street. People on the ground cheered. 

Spider-Man followed, webbed them together while they were still dazed from the collision, and tossed them out the broken windows. They cracked the sidewalk below. 

Vlad phased out of the webbing and pushed himself to his feet. 

“This is only the beginning, Spider-Man!” He yelled, voice still amplified. Then he grabbed Skulker and vanished. 

The camera panned across the smoking wreckage, green flames still burning in places, and then cut to the studio, where the same newscaster as before sat. 

“ _ Once more, Spider-Man has protected our city, but left it in ruins. If your property has been damaged, please call the number below to reach the Department for Damage Control. _

_ These two super-powered individuals were like nothing we’ve ever seen here in New York. Who were they, what do they want, and most importantly, will they be back? Until we know more, let’s turn it over to you, Larry, with the weather. Has all that fire cleared up yet?” _

Jack pounded the table with his fist. “They’re clearly ghosts! Are they complete idiots?”

“Well, Jack,” Maddie said, “Not everyone’s as smart as you, dear.”

“Obviously not,” Jack huffed. “I’ll be in the lab untangling the Fenton Fisher. We’re going to need it.”

There was a pause. 

“Uhhh, Mom?”

“Yes, Danny?”

“I know it’s the middle of the week, but can Tucker, Sam, and I go on a trip for an indeterminate amount of time with no adult supervision?”

Before she could respond, he overshadowed her and winked at Jazz. 

“Yes, Danny,” he said through her, “I think that’s a great idea. I’m going to go tell your father what a wonderful idea that is.”

Danny popped back out of her and responded, “Don’t bother, Mom. I’m sure he won’t mind. Now, we’ll just be going then. Bye!”

Danny, Sam, and Tucker dashed up the stairs before she could answer, with Jazz hot on their heels. 

***

“We can take the jet; it’s fastest,” Danny panted as they climbed through the trap door into the Ops Center. 

“Wait, Danny,” Jazz called from below. 

“Jazz, I have to do this!”

“I know, just… be careful, alright?”

“Come on, when am I ever  _ not  _ careful?”

Jazz raised an eyebrow. 

“Jeez,  _ fine,  _ I promise I’ll be careful.”

“Love you, little brother.”

“Love you too, Jazz.”

She tossed him a duffle bag. “Knock ‘em dead for me. Or, dead _ er _ .”

“Danny, we gotta go!” Sam started flipping switches, engaging the Auto-Jack and detaching the Ops Center from the house. Jazz waved from the roof as the blimp transformed into a jet and flew away. 

Opening the duffle bag, Danny found two Specter Deflectors, a spare thermos, the Fenton Ghost Peeler, and a pile of energy bars. He shook his head with a grin. 

***

“Uh, Danny?” Sam called as they approached the city. 

“Yeah?”

“Any idea how we’re going to land a jet in New York without being noticed?”

“If we can find an open spot, I should be able to activate the cloaking device to keep it hidden.”

“There’s nowhere in New York big enough to land a jet.”

“Nowhere except  _ there _ .” Tucker pointed out the window at Central Park. 

“Look for somewhere secluded─There, aim for that clearing.”

Danny put his hands against the wall and concentrated on extending his ghost powers to envelop the entire jet. He took a deep breath and the jet disappeared. 

“Alright,” he said, “bring us down.”

“Here goes nothing,” Sam said, and the jet tilted downwards, grass and trees racing up to meet them. 

“Slow down!” Tucker yelled. 

“I’m on it, I’m on it!”

She pulled up at the last second and they landed in the clearing with a jolt. 

“There. See? I had everything under control.”

Tucker slowly released his death grip on the seat and swallowed. “Yep,” he gulped. “Totally under control.”

Danny flipped on the cloaking device and then retracted his powers. The jet reappeared, but only from the inside. 

“Now,” Danny said, rubbing his hands together, “We just have to find Vlad and Skulker before they cause any more trouble.”

“And Spider-Man!”

“And Spider-Man,” Danny agreed.

Danny hefted Jazz’s duffle and they climbed out of the jet, looking around.

“So, which way do we go?”

“According to my GPS, we’re 2.4 miles north of the Empire State Building, so if we head south,” he pointed to their right, “we should find it.”

“Hopefully when Vlad makes his next move, he’ll go back there.”

“I vote we get food on the way.”

“Seconded. New York’s gotta have something ultra-recyclo-vegetarian.”

“And meat! I hear they have good hot dogs.”

“Gross. Let’s go.” Sam clicked the jet’s remote, activating the ghost shield, and then they followed Tucker out of the park. 

Despite the mayhem only an hour earlier, the streets thronged with people: businessmen, tourists, cops, first responders sorting through the wreckage, vendors trying to set up their wares  _ on  _ the wreckage, kids dashing through the crowds and knocking things over… The New Yorkers were clearly unphased by the recent attempt at their eternal subjugation. 

Danny, Sam, and Tucker wandered through the crush of bodies, occasionally stopping to look at window displays or carts full of merchandise. 

They found a vendor who sold both normal hotdogs and ultra-recyclo-vegetarian dogs. 

“Mmmm,” said Sam around a mouthful of plant-based meat substitute, “I wuv New Worf.”

“Hey guys, look!” Tucker pointed to a cart a few yards away. “Spider-Man merch!”

He sprinted over to the cart, already trying to decide what to buy. 

Sam turned to Danny with a smirk. “The only thing that gets Tucker running as fast as a new PDA: Spider-Man.” 

They followed him at a more sedate pace. By the time they caught up, he’d already purchased a Spider-Man Mask, two different Spider-Man action figures, and was contemplating a Spider-Man backpack. 

“Hey, do you think all my tech would fit in this? It’s kind of small.”

Sam rolled her eyes. “That’s because it’s designed for kids, Tucker.”

“You know what? I’m gonna get it. That way I have something to hold all  _ this _ in,” he said, holding up his other purchases. 

They were only a few blocks from the Empire State Building when green flames flashed across the sky. 

“Vlad must be back already! Here,” Danny said, tossing the duffle bag of weapons to Sam. She unzipped it, pulling out the Specter Deflectors and handing one to Tucker. 

Danny looked around for a place to change, but there were people everywhere. Finally he spotted an empty alley across the street. He sprinted for it. 

He dove into the alley, yelling, “I’M GOING GH─” and collided with someone else. They both crashed to the pavement, which Danny  _ really  _ didn’t want to touch. 

“Um… ” Danny said, staring at the person on the ground next to him. He was a teenager, about Danny’s age, with messy brown hair and a shocked expression on his face. 

“Um… “ he said again. “Wrong alley, sorry.” He fled before the other boy could respond. 

Danny ducked into the next alley down and transformed into Phantom, vaguely wondering what that boy had been doing in an alley. He decided he probably didn’t want to know. 

With a burst of ghostly energy, he shot above the buildings and flew towards the swirling mass of green flames floating over the Empire State Building. 

As he approached, he caught glimpses of a dark figure in the center of the flames. 

“Plasmius!”

The flames parted and Vlad floated towards him, cape waving in the wind.

“Ah, Daniel. Come to swear your allegiance to me, at last?”

Danny raised his fists, crackling with ecto-energy. 

“No? Pity.” Vlad shot a ghost ray at him, but Danny dodged. 

“Where’s your new  _ associate _ ? Get sick of you already?”

Vlad laughed. “You saw that little performance, did you? Don’t worry, he hasn’t gone far. You’ll have to wait your turn, though. He has his sights on someone else.”

Danny dove and blasted Vlad in the back with ecto-energy. 

Vlad cursed and spun around. 

“Since Skulker’s busy hunting spiders, you’ll have to settle for me. Well,  _ us, _ ” he said, dividing himself into four. They lifted their hands in unison, glowing pink, and prepared to fire. 

A web shot out and wrapped around the furthest duplicate, catching him by surprise and whipping him into the others. 

“Four against one,” called a disapproving voice, “That’s not very nice.”

The duplicates regrouped as Spider-Man swung across the street and clambered up the Empire State Building to the tip of its point, careful to avoid the missile damage. 

He looked over at Danny. “Mind if I join the party?”

Danny grinned. “Be my guest. And, hey, when we’re done here, my friend would love your autograph.”

Spider-Man dodged a pink energy strike and tilted his head from side to side, cracking his neck. 

“Alright, Dracula, let’s do this.”

Spider-Man shot web after web at Vlad, Danny blasting him with ghost rays while he was distracted. 

“Come on, Plasmius,” Danny taunted, “Go back to Wisconsin where you belong.” 

“I don’t think so, child. I have big things in store for this city.”

Two of his duplicates flew away from the others and started relighting the ghost fires from earlier. Soon, the entire block glowed green. 

“You know this guy?” Spider-Man asked Danny. 

“Yeah,” Danny said, floating closer to the building as he powered up another ghost ray. He raised his voice so Vlad could hear. “Vlad Plasmius, he’s a pathetic, lonely ghost with delusions of grandeur.” 

Vlad snarled and flames licked the edge of the monument.

“Wait… go back. GHOST? Like, an actual  _ ghost _ -ghost?” Distracted, he barely dodged another energy strike. The edge of it singed his suit. 

Danny shot a ghost ray and swore. “We have to lure him down to street level so we can capture him.”

“And put civilians in more danger?”

“Trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

“You better,” Spider-Man said, before webbing one of the duplicates and flinging him towards the ground. He swung down after him. 

“Hey Vlad, how are you going to take over the  _ entire world _ , if you can’t even get my mom to like you?”

“Insolent  _ child,”  _ Vlad growled. 

Danny laughed and zipped past him, flying between the buildings and down towards the street, where Spider-Man was now fighting two of the duplicates. 

The other two followed Danny, shooting blast after blast of ecto-energy at him. Danny scanned the street below, finally spotting a familiar black and yellow duo. He headed towards them. 

“Sam! Put the Peeler on! And get a deflector ready.”

He kept flying, dodging lamp posts, ecto-energy, and green flames. Diving down, he grabbed Spider-Man, pulling him out of the way of a particularly violent blast. 

“Thanks,” Spider-Man panted. 

“No problem. Now, I’m gonna fly past my friend and I need you to grab the belt she’s holding up─you are human, right?”

“More or less. I’m not whatever the hell you are.”

“I’m a ghost, that’s why I need  _ you  _ to grab the Specter Deflector: I can’t touch it.”

“Right… ” Spider-Man said faintly. 

Danny swooped down towards Sam and Spider-Man grabbed the deflector from her outstretched hands. 

“Okay, when I get Vlad back into one body, I need you to put that around his waist. It should short out his powers long enough for us to trap him.” 

Danny dropped Spider-Man off on a nearby roof and wheeled around to blast Vlad, who Sam was keeping occupied with the Ghost Peeler. 

“Hey Vladdy! My mom says ‘Hi.’ Oh, wait, she doesn’t, ‘cause she  _ hates  _ you.”

All four of the duplicates turned on Danny. 

“Stop─”  _ blast!  _ “─bringing─”  _ blast!  _ “─Maddie─”  _ blast!  _ “─into this!”  _ Blast! _

Danny groaned and stumbled to his feet at the bottom of a smoking crater in the pavement. Vlad floated above him, cackling. 

“What,” Vlad asked, “no witty retort?” 

Danny smirked. “Just this,” he said, opening his mouth in a ghostly wail that reverberated off the buildings and knocked Vlad out of the air. 

Danny advanced, still wailing. The duplicates shuddered, blocking their ears. They shimmered like a mirage, and then there was only one. 

“NO!” Vlad yelled. He raised his hand, but only a weak flicker of ecto-energy danced around his fingers. 

Danny stopped wailing and said, “Spider-Man, now!”

Spider-Man swung down from above and clasped the specter deflector around Vlad’s waist before he realized what was happening. Vlad screamed as the device attacked, his appearance flashing between ghost and human. 

Behind them, Tucker opened the thermos and, still screaming, Vlad was sucked inside. The deflector clattered to the ground. 

There was a moment of silence. 

Then, “I’m sorry, but what the  _ fuck? _ GHOSTS?” 

Danny furrowed his eyebrows. “Do you not have them in New York or something?”

“Uh, not that I know of.”

“What the hell. They won’t leave Amity Park  _ alone _ . How are there no ghosts in all of New York?” 

Spider-Man shrugged. “You’re asking the wrong guy.” 

He looked from Danny, hovering a few inches off the ground, to Sam, wearing the Ghost Peeler, to Tucker, still holding the Fenton thermos. “Also, who  _ are _ you people?”

“Oh, right. I’m Danny Phantom. These are my friends, Sam and─”

“Hi! I’m Tucker! I’m a huge fan! Please sign this!” He held out his new backpack. 

A missile shot between them, blasting the backpack to smithereens. 

“Awww  _ man _ , I just bought that!” 

They whirled around and dodged another missile. 

Danny spit dust out of his mouth and cursed. He’d forgotten about Skulker. 

“You know this guy, too?” Spider-Man asked, trying to hit the hunter with a web. 

“Yeah. Skulker. He’s a hunter and a real pain in the ass.” 

“Hello, ghost child. Little spider. Two pelts with one stone. It must be my lucky day.” His shoulders bristled with missile launchers and other weapons. 

He shot towards them, releasing a rope that crackled with ecto-energy as it wrapped around Danny. He screamed and thrashed, trying to escape. 

Skulker lifted Danny up into the sky, calling down to Spider-Man, “Come along, little spider. Try and save him.”

The rope burned where it touched his skin, sending jolts of electricity through his body. He could feel his powers draining and it took all of his concentration not to revert back to his human form. Much more of this, and he wouldn’t be able to stop it. 

Skulker floated near the tops of the skyscrapers, watching as Spider-Man scaled the side of one. Waiting. 

Danny’s vision started to blur. Suddenly something wrapped around his leg and wrenched him out of Skulker’s grip. He landed with a thud on a rooftop, still wrapped in the rope. 

Spider-Man ran past him, holding a Fenton thermos aloft. Danny heard the characteristic whoosh as it opened, sucking Skulker towards it. 

“No!” Skulker yelled. “Your pelt  _ will  _ decorate my walls, little spider. Just wait.” The thermos swallowed him. 

Danny passed out. 

***

He woke up with a jolt when Spider-Man pulled the rope off of him, swearing as it zapped his fingers. Danny sat up and looked around. Spider-Man had dragged him under a covered area on the roof, to shield them from the news choppers still circling the area like vultures. 

Then he looked down and saw a white t-shirt and jeans. 

“Fuck,” he said, glad Jazz wasn’t around to scold him. 

“You okay?” Spider-Man asked.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” Danny rubbed the burns on his arms and winced. “So… ”

“I won’t tell anyone who you are. Or what you look like, I guess. I don’t know who you are.”

“Thanks, I owe you one.” He held out a hand. “I’m Danny Fenton. I’m half ghost.”

Spider-Man shook his hand, and then hesitated. Then he took off his mask, revealing the brown-haired teenager from the alley. 

“I recognized you when you changed back. I figure it’s only fair. I’m Peter.”

“So, when I ran into you earlier─”

“I was just about to change into the suit, yeah.”

Danny laughed, but it turned into a groan when his ribs twinged under the binder. Crap. 

“What are the odds that two superheroes picked the same alley to change in?” Danny asked. 

“Considering the number of alleys in New York, I’d say pretty small.” Peter frowned. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I just─Ow, dang it.” He grit his teeth and kept prodding around his ribs. “Usually my ghost powers protect me from stuff like this, but I must’ve changed back before I hit the roof. And the binder doesn’t help.” He kept poking around, but nothing felt broken. Just  _ really _ painful. 

“Binder? Were you wearing one for that whole fight? That’s really dangerous!”

“No. I can, uh, control how I look as a ghost, sort of. It’s just when I change back.” He paused. “Wait, how do you know?”

Peter pulled the collar of his suit down, revealing the strap of a sports bra. “I learned the hard way not to fight in one. Luckily I can pad the suit enough that it isn’t super noticeable.” 

“Wow. You’re my age, you have a crime-fighting alter ego, you bind─Think we’ve got anything else in common?”

Peter thought for a moment. “Do you also get bullied for being a geek in school?”

“Literally  _ every day. _ There’s this jock named Dash─”

“Are you serious? The biggest asshole at my school is named  _ Flash _ .”

“Ha, no way.”

They paused for a moment, both thinking about their respective bullies. 

Danny smiled. “Tucker and Sam have my back, though.”

“They know your identity, then?”

“They’re my best friends, of course they know. I couldn’t do this without them.”

“No one knows about me.”

“No one?”

“Nope.” 

“That must suck.”

Peter laughed a little. “Yeah, it really does.” 

“So, how’d you end up with powers?”

“I was bitten by a radioactive spider a year ago. It gave me powers, so I designed myself web-shooters and a spider-themed suit to go with them.” He shrugged. “Now I’m Spider-Man.”

“My parents built a portal to the Ghost Zone and when it exploded, I ended up part ghost.”

“The Ghost Zone?”

“Yeah, it’s a thing.”

“I guess we both have science experiments gone wrong to blame.” 

“You know, that’s also how Vlad got his powers.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He was my parents’ friend in college. They tried to build a portal then, too.”

“Your parents must not be very good at making portals. No offense.”

“Maybe not, but they built all our other tech too, so I think it balances out.”

“You mean all those weapons your friends had? The belt and the metal suit and the container thing?”

“Yeah. The Specter Deflector protects against ghosts, so it really sucks if you  _ are  _ a ghost and you wear it. The Fenton Ghost Peeler─what Sam was wearing─strips away a ghost’s disguise, but it also works for just straight up shooting them. The Fenton thermos sucks them back to the Ghost Zone.” 

“Wow. That’s incredible. And I thought  _ I _ was cool for making my own web-shooters.”

“Come on, you can take a look at them if you want.”

Danny stood up slowly, using the wall behind him for support. 

“And I should get back down there anyway, so my friends don’t think I’m dead.”

“Here, I’ll give you a lift,” Peter said, putting his mask back on and holding out his arms. 

“This is weirdly familiar… ” Danny said, wrapping his arms around Spider-Man. 

***

Sam and Tucker were pacing anxiously on the sidewalk below. They cheered when they saw Spider-Man and Danny swing down.

“Finally!” Sam yelled as they landed. “We thought you were dead.”

“ _ Sam  _ thought you were dead. I knew Spider-Man would protect you.”

“Uh, thanks?” Spider-Man said.

They showed Spider-Man the Fenton gadgets, and he let Tucker examine his web-shooters. Sam stood back with Danny while the other two geeked out over technology. 

“Looks like Tucker’s getting over his hero worship,” Sam said, watching Tucker shoot a web at his own face. 

“Yeah. Spider-Man  _ is  _ pretty cool, though. We actually have a lot in common.”

Sam smiled. “I know.”

***

“Hey, if you’re ever in New York again, hit me up,” Spider-Man said as they lowered the ghost shield and uncloaked the jet. 

“Count on it. And the same if you’re ever in Amity Park.” Danny held out his fist and Spider-Man bumped it. 

“Wait, guys. We gotta get one last picture,” Tucker said. They all groaned. 

“You’ve taken  _ at least _ a hundred already,” Sam said.

“Come on, it’s for posterity.”

“Ugh, fine. But I hate this.”

“You hate everything,” Tucker retorted. 

“Nope. Just you and your stupid camera.”

The four of them squeezed together in front of the jet and Tucker held out his camera, snapping a photo. He flipped the camera around to show them: Sam, Tucker, Spider-Man, and Danny, all smiling at the camera with the gray and green jet in the background. Spider-Man was giving Danny bunny ears. 

“Oh yeah,” Tucker said, “I can’t  _ wait  _ to show this to Dash.” 

Spider-Man laughed. “I’ll have to get a photo of me as myself with Danny Phantom some time. Flash would probably be jealous. After all, Danny Phantom  _ did  _ just save New York.”

“It was a team effort,” Danny said. 

After a last round of hugs, goodbyes, and promises to keep in touch through their newly exchanged email addresses, they parted ways. 

Spider-Man watched the jet turn invisible and fly away with a smile. It was nice to know he wasn’t the only teenager around juggling high school and superheroism. And hey, if he ever ran into another ghost, he’d know who to call. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I got sucked into Danny Phantom and the result was the first fic I've written since I was 16. I have no regrets.


End file.
